Chapter 478

The Prison Planet

Meal over and their bread and cookies out of the oven, Jasmine, Morales and the wolves made one last trip outside before bedtime. “Well, it looks as if it has finally quit snowing,” Morales said, as he cast his gaze toward the night sky. “There are a few stars beginning to break through. Maybe I’ll get to work on our outhouse come morning.” For whatever good that will do if I get kicked out of my cave, he went on mentally.

After Morales hung the lantern on a limb, they separated a few paces and turned their backs to each other. The wolves had already bounded ahead to circle, their senses alert for danger. When they returned, both noticed the humans doing their business facing away from each other as usual. Neither understood what seemed to the wolves to be another human ritual of some kind. Why else would the two turn away while performing a normal body function?

Back inside, despite it being almost bedtime, Jasmine found herself drinking another cup of coffee while Morales again spent a few minutes working with the speed reading program, occasionally muttering under his breath. She, at first, thought he was reading out loud and was going to caution him about it, but she soon realized that wasn’t the case. “What’s wrong, Mr. Morales?” she asked while teasing him with the mister.

How can she make the word sound so damn sexy? he asked himself even as he answered her. “Well, the program wants me to read groups of words instead of each single word. And ... to make sure I do it, it flashes these groups on the screen at a speed that’s just on the verge of being too short a period of time for me to comprehend the group, or else it increases the complexity of the group, and ... I’m struggling again. But, just about the time my frustration reaches maximum, the damn thing goes back to the slower speed and the easier groupings, and I’m suddenly able to easily read the groups before they change. After a few minutes, it begins to go through the process again. But ... it only takes a short while before my brain starts to tire. The instructions say it can be fun. I’m beginning to think that the person who wrote that is sick between his ears,” he said with a forced chuckle. “It might be fun for him, but it’s damn sure a hassle for me.”

Jasmine went over, knelt to look over his shoulder, and told him to continue. Nervous and obviously intimidated by her presence, he hesitantly complied. After a few minutes, his working with the program basically forced him to forget about her, and he again focused entirely on groups of words flashing on the screen. When she had watched for a while, she put a hand on his shoulder, kissed his cheek and stood. “I know you won’t believe me, but you’re doing better than you think you are. Remember, the instructions say for you to work with the program ten or fifteen minutes, multiple times per day. That’s one of the programs that I still use from time to time even now. Trust me; it’s capable of pushing even the fastest reader. And Baby, I never said that it was easy to become a fast reader, but it is worth it in the end. As you spend time with the program, your comprehension will begin to escalate, also. But don’t overdo. Remember, ten or fifteen minutes, then stop for a while.”

“So,” he said, putting the laptop on the ground and standing, “just how fast do you read?”

“Unh uh,” she returned while shaking her head. “I’m not going to say just now. But like I said, and like the program says, ‘multiple short periods every day’. In six months’ time, we’ll compare our speeds, and I guarantee you will be amazed at your progress. Another thing: after you progress a bit, the program begins to increase your vocabulary as well. There will be words and their definitions mixed in with the other text. Occasionally, it will cycle back through those words and definitions, so you’ll be exposed to them more than once.”

Morales heard what she said, but the “six months” rang loud and clear in his mind. Does she plan to stay that long, or does she expect to come back? He couldn’t hold back the smile, which she interpreted as his having agreed to work hard on the reading program.

She had put a couple of buckets of water on the fire to heat, and while he continued working with the speed reading program, she mixed hot with the cold water in the larger pan they used for their baths, stripped off her clothes and began. Normally it was almost bedtime when she bathed, and she turned the lantern to a lower setting before stripping off, but with Morales still working on his laptop, she left the light on high.

She realized that, somehow, her thinking had changed. I want him to see me now, and maybe not just a flash, either, but I don’t want to be obvious about it. When Morales, being his courteous self, realized she was going to bathe, he repositioned so he was facing away from her. In one way, it pleased her that he was courteous, but in another, it irritated her. “Doggonit,” she griped barely audibly, “sometimes you’re too much of a gentleman. I wanted you to at least glance over here.”

Morales, his hearing even better than she thought it was, didn’t quite hear it all, but he did clearly hear the word “gentleman”, and tended to guess the rest of it, although he was far from certain just what she had said. Surely she didn’t say what I thought she did. Mentally shrugging, he forced himself to believe he had misunderstood what she had whispered to herself.

Damn, I wish I could get a good look at her. Then, he asked himself, Why the fuck did you turn your ass around? She didn’t ask you to. You would have had a perfect opportunity to see her completely nude, and not just a glance, either. She’s obviously standing there in her birthday suit, probably not even turning her back, and wants to show you her body – maybe.

But what if that’s wrong? he asked himself. What would she do if I turned around and looked?

But you won’t, he told himself. What if you’re wrong and she gets embarrassed, or worse yet, pissed? Just wait, Stupid. If she really wants you looking at her body, she’ll let you know.

Thinking of her standing there nude did it, and he could feel his cock beginning to swell. Oh, great. Now I’m going to have an erection when it’s my turn to bathe. Steadfastly, he concentrated on the reading program, trying to get his mind off the beautiful and totally naked woman less than twenty feet away.

After drying off and pulling her panties on, she called out to him. “Okay, your time, and I left plenty of hot water for you.”

“Thanks.”

He concentrated on backing out of the program, shut the computer down and put it on its shelf. By then, she was in her sleeping bag, a tee shirt prominently lying on the fresh clothes she had put out for the morning. Hmmm, looks like she’s sleeping in just her panties again, even though we were supposed to get together and talk after lights out. I wonder if she’s still planning to come see me.

Seeing the tee shirt and realizing what it probably meant had an immediate effect on his body. Almost desperate to keep his cock from becoming fully erect in front of her, he began mentally trying to say the alphabet backward. By the time he stripped and was ready for his bath, he had managed to keep his dick from full tumescence, but it was swollen and extended somewhat, anyway.

As soon as his clothes were off, his dick began to swell and lengthen more. Trying his best not to have a full-blown erection should she look over at him, he dropped the washcloth in the cold-water bucket and squeezed the cloth over his shoulders and upper back. Since their water came from melted snow, it was cold. Even that didn’t make his tumescence go completely away, but he was relieved that the cold water had some effect, anyway. Shit, if she would give me a few minutes alone, I could relieve some of the pressure. I can’t do it outside – not with the cold and wind. It damn near freezes my dick off just to piss, and she’s always with me when I go to pick up meat in the ice cave. It’s cold in there, too, but at least the wind isn’t blowing. Fuck, he grumbled to himself, it’s been way too long since I have managed to get my rocks off.

By the time his bath was over and he had set the bucket with the dirty water near the door for easy emptying in the morning, she was lying on her side facing in the general direction of his bed, apparently sound asleep.

After banking the fire and putting the lamp on its lowest setting, he stripped to his shorts and crawled under the heavy hides.

Again, he thought about what she had said about continuing their conversation concerning the column area after they had gone to bed, both assuming that the cameras would be off by then, but it seemed she had gone to sleep instead.

He thought seriously about jerking off, but the cave was as quiet as a tomb. Dammit, she would hear me for sure when I came, and especially with me fantasizing about her. There’s no way I could jerk off and not think about her, though; she’s just too damn sexy. And, I usually groan when I shoot off. I just can’t help it. Shit, he whined to himself, I can’t do it in here, no matter how desperately I need to relieve the pressure.

After turning on his side to face away from her, he tried to direct his mind to something other than the sexy woman lying less than ten feet away. Just as he began to drift off, he felt the hides shift as she slid in behind him.

“Hi,” she quietly said with a choked-off giggle. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Hi, yourself,” he said while turning to face her, excitement bubbling in his core. Even though he was facing in her direction, the only light source was the lantern on its lowest setting, so he could barely make out her face. They were almost nose to nose, both their heads on his small pillow, when he smelled her. He supposed it was her soap, but there was the smell of a clean girl as well.

“You smell good,” he said.

“You smell of lye soap,” she shot back with a giggle, “ ... and man.”

“Well, I...”

“I like the way you smell, so don’t even think about apologizing, okay?” Abruptly, she kissed his nose, following it up with a peck on his lips. After a moment, she sighed, put an arm across his shoulder and pulled herself tightly to him. His cock had been aroused before, but now became rock-hard in an instant.

Feeling his erection, she said, “I am not ready to have sex with you, but I do want to talk to you and maybe sleep in your arms again, if that’s okay with you,” she very quietly said.

Oh, hell yes, he thought, but just said, “It would be my pleasure, Ma’am. And ... I don’t expect anything more, but ... I’m a man and I...”

“I know, I can feel the lump against me, and I’m just as turned on as you appear to be, but I just can’t jump into sex; I’m not built that way. So, please understand that I’m not being a bitch and teasing you. Well at least not on purpose.” After a quiet moment, she went on, “Morales, I’m not a virgin, not quite, anyway. I’ve had sex – if you could call it that – but I’ve never made love or been made love to. I think that will happen between us, but I’m not quite ready yet. If you want me to go back to my bed...”

“Hush,” he hurried to say as he kissed her forehead. “Don’t even think anything like that. You know I want you; hell, you can feel my want poking you through my shorts, but I’ll take what you wish to give and I will not push for more. I may be a criminal, but I’m not the kind of guy who takes advantage of a woman.”

“Okay,” she said with a giggle, “now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the column area. Do you have any ideas about how it came into being?”

“Me?” he asked with a chuckle. “I’m just a con. I can’t ... Oh, shiiitttt, that hurt,” he gasped out while rubbing his side.

“I can pinch harder,” she grumbled back at him. “I’ve already told you that I don’t like for you to belittle yourself. I know about your background, and ... I know the man I’ve been with for the last few days. The two don’t match. There is a loving man who has his arm around me and is going to put his other arm under me so he can hold me properly.”

Morales chuckled and readily complied.

As she snuggled fully into his arms, “Good. That’s much better,” she said while molding her body to his, her breasts with their aroused nipples firmly pushing against his chest.

Wiggling a little, she moved her nipples back and forth through his chest hair. “Ummm, that’s nice,” she said, dreamily, before chastising herself mentally. “But back to topic. Any ideas about the column area?”

“Lady, you’re the scientist...”

She pinched him again, but not as hard this time.